Exercises to Avoid - Lat Pulldown Behind the Neck

One exercise that should always be avoided is the lat pulldown behind the neck. Although you often still see people doing this exercise in the gym, they are putting themselves at risk for injury.

There are two main reasons why you should avoid the lat pulldown behind the neck. The first one is that performing this exercise behind the neck puts the shoulder joint into a severely rotated position. This position is one of the weakest for the shoulder joint and can lead to permanent injury to the muscles and ligaments within the shoulder joint. The second reason is that the lat pulldown behind the neck forces the head to be pushed forward, placing undue and dangerous stress on the cervical spine (neck) - again possibly leading to severe and permanent injury to muscles, ligaments and intervertebral tissue.

For the above reasons, the lat pulldown should always be performed to the front and never behind the neck.